Apartment complex built to help homeless veterans (With Video)

CHESTER -- For several years, the building decrepitly sat along Meadow Lane, a shell of its glory days as a hospital for veterans. Occasionally, the vacant building caught fire, sending squatters scampering to find shelter elsewhere.

Waiting for a savior, the multiple-story, 30,000-square-foot building changed owners a handful of times, but little improvements were made until a local investment group, Trimerge Investments LLC., purchased the property in June 2009. The group poured about $2.5 million into renovating the building's interior and exterior, revamping everything but the brick facade.

Yet that work, completed Oct. 1, was only the beginning of the building's restoration. Known as Buchman Meadows, the historic building is also re-obtaining its identity as a facility for veterans.

Turned into a 42-unit apartment complex, the investment group hopes Buchman Meadows will primarily house veterans struggling with homelessness or financial difficulties. The group, which self-financed the project, includes Joe Iacona of Media, Dominic Frangelli of Prospect Park, Romeo Karalis of Upper Darby, Steven Gretsky and John Gretsky, both of Chester.

Advertisement

To celebrate the completed project and showcase the building to potential tenants, Trimerge Investments is hosting a public ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Wednesday at 11 a.m.

It's no coincidence the ceremony falls on Veterans Day.

"We want to put people in there that are going to appreciate it as much as we appreciate them," Karalis said. "The group that needs it deserves it. It seems like a perfect fit."

Thus, instead of charging the fair market value for rent, tenants can rent units for about 20 percent less than the fair market value, not including utilities, Frangelli said.

To aid the veterans, the investors are paying for an on-sight Department of Veterans Affairs representative to facilitate various social services, including counseling, health evaluations and financial assistance. The investors plan to arrange classes on homeownership, family self-sufficiency and other applicable topics. They'll also provide transportation to local veterans centers.

"One of the taglines that we've been throwing out there is, 'Your mission ends, ours begins,'" Frangelli said. "That's the way we treat it, like a mission. These guys are on a mission to protect and serve our country. We're now on a mission to serve and protect the guys who did that for us."

Originally, Frangelli said, the group simply sought to transform Buchman Meadows into a fair-market apartment complex. Then, the group researched the building's history and discovered it was constructed in 1917 as part of Buckman Village, a war town designed to house shipbuilders during World War I. Later, it served as a veterans hospital.

"That's really what got the wheels turning," Frangelli said. "Why would we turn this into something else when the need is right here, the use is right here? It's already been there. It was a no-brainer."

Buchman Meadows contains both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments complete with a full bath, kitchen and living area. The facility also contains four ADA compliant units.

In deciding to make Buchman Meadows a housing facility for veterans, the investors met with the VA and learned homelessness among veterans was more prevalent than they had imagined.

According to Project CHALENG, a VA program designed to assist homeless veterans, about 107,000 veterans were homeless in 2009, including 450 in Philadelphia.

"The reason it's shocking is because we have the most technologically advanced military the world has ever seen," Karalis said. "You look at that and go, 'Man, we've advanced so far as a nation.' You figure it would just carry on back."

"These guys are like 50 or 60 years old, too, coming from the Vietnam War," Iacona added. "How about all the guys coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan? There's another flood."

The investors recently watched a "60 Minutes" report detailing an annual veterans camp in San Diego, where veterans meet with social service organizations and receive instruction on self-sufficiency. The investors were struck by the story of one particular homeless veteran who seemed like someone they'd befriend.

"That guy, he could be any one of us who is now on the street," Karalis said. "He's so conscious of his own body odor, that he avoids other community interaction. That's sad."

While the government offers various benefits to veterans, particularly those incurring disabilities, some able-bodied veterans don't meet the qualifications for assistance, Frangelli said. Thus, if they hit difficult financial times, some find themselves homeless while others struggle to establish themselves after leaving the military, he said.

That's the target group for Buchman Meadows, which Frangelli said is the first facility in the region dedicated to providing veterans with housing, regardless of their ability to obtain VA assistance. Still, to be in compliance with fair-market housing laws, Frangelli said Buchman Meadows is not restricted to veterans. Anyone can apply for tenancy.

Trimerge Investements is currently accepting and reviewing tenant applications. As a permanent housing facility, Frangelli said tenants are under no pressure to leave by a certain date, but ideally, they would stay at Buchman Meadows for a year or two until they could gain financial traction.

"If somebody stays here 25 years, great, but our hope and our goal for these guys and girls is that they do find a way to get a piece of the American Dream and go and buy their own house," Frangelli said. "As much as we would love as landlords to have somebody come in for 25 years and be the model tenant, we want to help them move on and get to that next level."

Thus, just like the building they restored, the investors seek to similarly revive the lives of the veterans they hope will call 1000 Meadow Meadows home.